Speaking seconds after the stage finish, Il Giro di Sicilia winner, Brandon McNulty, said: “I knew what I had to do, I used my TT skills to defend the jersey. My team was incredible, they gave everything for me, it was a huge team effort. This is a great long climb, it was an epic stage. Now it’s time for a little bit of celebration.”

The stage winner, Guillaume Martin, said: “I am happy for this win, it would have been better to also win the GC. We tried to race aggressively, Odd Christian Eiking also attacked at the beginning of the climb, but Brendan was really strong, and I decided to focus on winning the stage. It’s a climb which is part of the history of cycling. I was here last year in an altitude training camp. I also wrote a book about philosophy and a few pages were about this climb. It’s special to win here.”